Tom finch
Feel for you,some open honest reflections that do make sense

---You don't want to have to believe things you can't understand
---You see people blindly accepting things in faith and its offensive ( why do they hide behind jargon words and don't seem to use their brains as much as they should )
etc)
We are with you on that. Thinking is critical. All our constructs should be open to question.
But as for belief. that too . There is a strong case from peoples practical experience that it can help you move from the cave Plato described . This is the cave of mere shadow study that still threatens to overwhelm the West now as it did the Greeks 16 centuries ago .

(TRUE religious communities seem to have lots of people who don't allow themselves to think much but don't let that stop you from joining "a motherhood group" - Inventions, totems and sacred objects are common creations of humans. Maybe we need metaphors rather than pretend we can live without them in big picture areas .
One thing makes sense - not to ignore them, but to study them properly and thoroughly.
Most importantly, if the West is to deal wore effectively with Islam it needs to understand why its attractive to thinking people ( not just the lazy members so often targeted as we did above ) .
Evidence talk is not enough for many young westerners !
The stultification of waiting around in the cave for the shadows to make sense is enough to make some young people jump right out of the post modern blight of mere word fragments and try something new ; Something that actually includes some correspondence ( connections ) with esoteric things like love( can't put that into the lab) which at the end of the day -also interest most of us deeply and practically .
The problem with inventing metaphors then , is that we all seem to do it ,not just the nutters next door . Go Homer go http://graceware.blogspot.com

Dear Hanrahan,

In Eindhoven in the Netherlands a Sunni, staying at my hotel, told me of what went on Friday night at the mosque. After the service the men (Prayer in the mosque is strictly segregated) would get together. The imam then asks if anybody has any problem that they would like to discuss. Then he asks the men the same thing one at a time. The problems mentioned are then discussed. Sometimes it is enough to just get something off one's chest. Advice or even financial aid may help with other problems. Anyway there is sociability, and the men feel they are not alone.

I visited a mosque in Brisbane to ask the imam some questions. He invited me to attend the service. It was in a large room with big windows and no chairs. A row of men put their faces to the ground with their rumps in the air away from Mecca. One ten year old went the other way and put his rump toward Mecca. His father (I assume it was his father) picked him up, smiled and pointed him in the right direction. It seemed like teasing on the kid's part, and the man took with good nature. After the service they got a copy of the Koran in Arabic and English and discussed one of the chapters. It contained a dissertation on knowledge which brought forth a discussion of free speech as a way to gain knowledge of differing points of view. This was shortly after the fatwa against Salman Rushdie for "Satanic Verses". One of the men said that he had read "Satanic Verses" and didn't like it. They agreed that the fatwa was a bad thing. All you had to do was not to read the book if you thought it would be bad although you were free to read it. After that the imam offered me some tapes on Islam. I refused as I did not want him to think of me as a possible convert but thanked him for his hospitality.